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Star of Dallas Buyers Club confronted a woman who said he did not deserve to be honored as he was a man playing a trans woman

US actor and singer Jared Leto was accused of ‘trans misogyny’ last night (4 February).

The ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ star, who has won rave reviews by critics, was told by a heckler did not deserve to be honored for his work.

‘Trans misogyny does not deserve an award!’ screamed the unidentified woman at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Virtuosos Award tribute honoring Leto.

‘What do you mean by that?’ Leto asked, to which the heckler said, ‘You don’t deserve an award for portraying a trans woman, because you’re a man.’

‘Because I’m a man, I don’t deserve to play that part?’ he asked.

‘So you would hold a role against someone who happened to be gay or lesbian – they can't play a straight part?’

Leto has already won the Golden Globe, SAG award and Critic’s Choice for his portrayal of Rayon, a trans woman living with HIV.

‘Then you've made sure people that are gay, people that aren't straight, people like the Rayons of the world would never have the opportunity to turn the tables and explore parts of that art,’ Leto added.

He offered to continue the conversation with the heckler afterwards, where according to the Hollywood Reporter they had a ‘cordial conversation’ for about 15 minutes.

While he has won appraise for his work, some trans people were offended by Leto’s speech at the Golden Globes. He joked about cross-dressing and called Rayon a ‘beautiful creature’.

British trans activist Paris Lees, writing in The Independent, said it was not an Oscar-worthy performance as she did not recognize in Rayon any trans woman she knows.

Having played the HIV/AIDS+ Rayon in the Oscar nominated ‘Dallas Buyers Club’, Jared Leto has been keen to draw attention to the “Rayons of this world” with every public appearance he makes.

Nominated himself in the Best Supporting category, Leto has clearly been affected by Rayon’s life story, which – and here come some spoilers if you haven’t seen Buyers Club – ends after an unsuccessful battle with the Aids virus.

There was no Rayon in Ron Woodruff’s life. She's in the film to represent the change to his character from drunk homophobe to world-changing activist, who became accepting of gay people.

Leto was forced to defend “the Rayons of this world” when he was faced by a heckler at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where he was picking up an award for his portrayal of the transgender HIV patient.

A member of the audience at the Arlington Theater yelled, "You're a man! You shouldn't play a transgendered role", according to Thewrap.com. Leto then took the heckler to task, saying: "You've made sure that people who are gay, that the Rayons of this world should never be able to turn the tables" which prompted a warm round of applause from the audience.

The Oscar-nominee then invited the heckler to meet him after the interview to continue the conversation in person, saying, "The door is open". And reports suggest Leto did meet the audience member for a talk.

Leto, who also applies his talents to musicianship as well as acting, told The Guardian that he walked around in public as Rayon with a view to road testing the character.

"You kind of have to register reactions and things, so inevitably the day comes when you take her out for a walk: shaved, waxed, wigged-up, the whole bit. To get a little judgment, some meanness, a little condemnation was a useful thing for the part,” he said.

“I went to Whole Foods Market to, I guess, just stare at the food, because I certainly wasn't eating a whole lot of it. And I got three distinct looks from people. One was, 'What is that?' The second one was, 'Who is that?' and the other was, 'I dunno what the fuck that is but I don't like it.'"

At the end of the night, when all four actors received their awards from actor Christopher Lloyd, Leto took the microphone again. “I do want to dedicate this tonight to the late, great Philip Seymour Hoffman,” he said. “A brave and fearless genius – someone who was a compass for all of us, and someone who will really be missed.”

i never understood that way of thinking. why would someone CHOOSE to live that way when they know it's going to be one of the hardest things they'd ever have to do? when they'd have nothing but torment and horrible people to deal with on a daily basis? no one would "choose" to live that way. that's who that person is. and people need to just deal with it.

Leto has already won the Golden Globe, SAG award and Critic’s Choice for his portrayal of Rayon, a trans woman living with HIV.

‘Then you've made sure people that are gay, people that aren't straight, people like the Rayons of the world would never have the opportunity to turn the tables and explore parts of that art,’ Leto added.

lol WHAT? Like Trans actors aren't even able to play trans roles, HOW are they able to branch out if they can't even get in the door. LIKE WTF?

Seriously though, he only had one good scene in DBC.. mostly he was meh and appeared to try to be a trans woman instead of the character most of the time imo

This is transphobia, really? I mean, I dunno what jokes he said about cross-dressing, but the phrase "beautiful creature" is used all the time and applied to anyone, I don't think he was saying trans people are creatures ffs. The reach, seriously.

And she was rude as fuck, sorry. We don't know what kind of conversation they had afterwards, maybe he walked away having learned something new. Hopefully he did, anyway.

My main issue(not with him but with casting) is that someone like Laverne, Harmony Santana.. other trans actresses, would definitely be speaking completely different about this role, their experiences and what it would mean to be given praise for their work...

Leto just seems so superficial in comparison to so many amazing trans actresses.

laverne wouldn't have been right for this because the whole point was that leto's character couldn't have surgery and was struggling with how she looked on top of everything else, but i see what you're saying. a trans actor could have been in this role and could have, but idt laverne is the best example here.